All posts by martin

End of Term Procedures

Announcements

If you have not kept up with the schedule to complete this term, please re-register ASAP for next term. Seats for the 2011 Winter term are filling up fast. As soon as you complete, I can move you on to the next level, if that’s helpful. NOTE: While the college will be closed over the Christmas break, the online classroom will be made available to those who have re-registered in my D19 2011 Winter sections.

If you are on track to complete this term, please read the following carefully to avoid any confusion around final exam writing procedures. Your final exams are written under invigilated (supervised) conditions. If you are one of my distance students (i.e., you don’t live in the Victoria area), you will need to arrange for your own invigilator. Contact me for details. In all cases you will need my permission to write the exam. NOTE: The last day to write an exam this term is Tuesday December 14th. The final exam writing options for local students are listed below:

  1. CBA 109 Interurban Math Lab – See http://camosun.ca/learn/programs/help-centres_schedules.html#INUpgrade for CBA109 lab hours.
  2. E342 Lansdowne Math Lab – See http://camosun.ca/learn/programs/math/labs.html for E342 hours. NOTE: I’m told evenings in E342 are very busy and busier near the end of term so extra students may be hard to manage/fit in, so if you need an evening time, CBA109 at Interurban may be your only option.
  3. Instructor invigilated exam in Ewing Lansdowne computer lab in E112 on Tuesday December 14th at 9:00 am.

NOTE: If you are choosing option one or two, email me for a permission to write at least TWO days ahead of when you want to write. I will forward a permission to write to you and copy the instructional assistants at the lab. Only one or two people can write at a time in the Math Labs at Interurban and Lansdowne, so bookings there will be made on a first come, first serve basis. If you plan on writing on Tuesday December 14th, show up at E112 between 9:00 am and 9:30 am and we’ll make it so.

A student asks about repeating decimals

Essential Skills

A student asks,

How do I convert repeating decimal like 21.6666 repeater into a fraction?

It helps to know which fractions tend to give you repeating decimals. Anything in the thirds family may give you a repeater. Remembering that the ‘/’ symbol also means divide, put

1/3

into your calculator and you’ll get

0.3333 repeater

Do the same for 1/6 and you’ll get 0.16666 repeater, which you may have noticed is one-half of 0.33333 repeater.

So 0.66666 repeater is twice as big as 0.33333 repeater. Therefore 0.66666 repeater is twice one third. That gives us two thirds or 2/3. Put that into your calculator to verify.

Now we know that 21.66666 repeater is equal to

21 2/3

It is also helpful to note that the sevenths family of numbers also tend to be repeaters. Put 1/7 into your calculator and you will get

0.14285714285714285714285714285714

Note that in the case you’d need to draw a line over the 142857 as that’s the part that repeats.

Math skills = greater family wealth

Uncategorized

In case you need more motivation to spend time on your math, today’s Globe and Mail reports,

Could your ability to solve basic math problems be a predictor of your family’s future fortunes? The answer may be as simple as 1-2-3.

A study published in this month’s Economic Journal reports numeracy, an ability to understand and use numbers, counts.

When both spouses answered the three numeracy-related questions correctly, their family’s wealth averaged $1.7-million. Meanwhile, among couples where neither spouse answered any questions correctly — which occurred in 10 per cent of cases — the average was $200,000.

So the next time you find yourself frustrated with that math problem, remember the payoff for numeracy is a million dollars plus. You can read the entire article at this link.